| User | Post |
Acillatem98
Posts: 93/135 |
I emulate for a number of reasons, mainly what hyperhacker stated first. Then a few others. ROMs are a helluva lot easier to get and in the privacy of your own home, they're a LOT cheaper, HACKING is a major reason, and playing others' games. |
Karadur
Posts: 1154/1192 |
I feel I'm coming into this thread a bit late, but better now than never 
The main reason I emulate is because otherwise I'd have little to no chance to play most of the games on an actual console. That's especially true of older consoles, such as the SNES. We never actually owned one, and although I still get a chance to use our aunt's a couple times a year, that's far less than I'd like 
I'm mainly talking about NES, SNES, Gameboy / Gameboy Color, and Genesis in the above. Although we do own a NES and it still works, it takes a bit of fiddling to get it working properly. The thing you slide the cartridge into pops up after pushing it back down 8 times out of 10, and there's a good chance you'll just get a grey colored screen when turning the NES on at first. The power light doesn't go on any more as well, but that's of less importance than the other stuff 
Another reason is hacks. Although it has to be possible to somehow get hacks on an actual game cart (via flash carts or whatever else) I don't have the materials or knowledge necessary to do so, which only leaves me with one option for playing them.
It is more satisfying to play games on what they were intended to be played on (especially with handhelds; it's alot more convenient being able to play Oracle of Seasons in my room than in front of the computer), but there are times when that's impossible, most of the time for one or more of the reasons listed above.
The one game we own that I find more fun played without an emulator is Joshua. Sometimes, the game starts up, although the graphics are glitchy. The levels are also completely different than what they're supposed to be like. It's fun playing them, although most of the time they're impossible to beat, either because of the level arrangement, or because you start ouside of the level border 
If I had to sum up why I emulate in a quick sentence, I'd have to say it's because I can't play the games on the actual console. Certainly not the most descriptive sentence, but I'll leave it at that for now. |
Peardian
Posts: 1404/1696 |
Quite simply to map. It was the only way to make perfect (or near perfect) maps of my favorite games.
Also, it gave me access to sprites I could use for sprite comics. |
Rydain
Posts: 685/738 |
- As was mentioned, emulators are convenient because they allow you to save/reload state and apply cheats. ZSNES with infinite fez + invincibility made it a hell of a lot easier and faster for me to refresh my memory when writing my Addams Family FAQ. It's also cool to be able to bring an assload of old-school games on a GBA flash cart to take on a trip.
- They give you a chance to play all manner of old-school games that you missed out on.
- You can also play rarities that would be ridiculously difficult or impossible to find and unreleased games like Earthbound Zero that would probably be lost to the world if someone hadn't dumped an image.
- You don't have to worry about cart batteries dying or dodgy console power switches destroying your saved games. Randy's crappy SNES killed my 100% Kirby Super Star save, and I was not happy about that. |
Darkmatt
Posts: 208/212 |
My brother got into emulation, and I followed suit.
He hasn't really done any hacking recently, in fact, he's not playing SNES games anymore (He's now playing *Mocking voice* "GOD OF WAR, and SOUL CALIBUR" *Normal voice*. Don't get me wrong, they're great games, but nothing beats SD3.*
And then I got my own after my 1st year of emulation.
-Play all the stuff you didn't get before the generation ended and you wound up selling your system and games. (SMB3! You came back to meeee!)
-Any rom hacking tools and emulation tools allows you to do more then the game wants you. *wink!*
-Didn't I mention PLAY ALL THE GAMES YOU DIDN'T GET!? (Kirby's Adventure! You came back to meeee!)
-It makes friends.
-It's forms a community.
-It's why I'm here.
-Need I go on? |
asdf
Posts: 257/303 |
- Free
- Don't need to go to sparse garage sales or discount media stores (incidently, there are none where I live)
- No need to worry about retarded corruption that is seemingly automatic in old games. Especially in the case of Donkey Kong Country, where my game did it 99% of the time after being turned off (it could survive, but it was unlikely). Not to mention that the 2-Player modes usually returned a blue screen stating that there was "unauthorized accessories", "foreign material" or something like that.
- ROM hacks
- Messing around with PAR codes without needing to buy one
- Not having to hook up an old system
- Reliving old games
- Save states
Originally posted by HyperHacker
And if you play SMW hacks, it's pretty much required.
Hell, just about any hack is that difficult
- Fast forward
- Slow down |
drjayphd
Posts: 1340/1477 |
Even if I had my TV and enough outlets to plug everything in, hooking up all my consoles would be a nightmare. You try finding a switcher that can handle, oh, five RF inputs and output A/V. |
Snika
Posts: 644/916 |
I've pretty much given up on emulation for the newer consoles.
The better the technology on the system itself, the harder it is to try to get it to run on a computer. Most of the games worth getting for a PS2 emulator have computer versions that can be torrented or bought. |
Sokarhacd
Posts: 1551/1757 |
eventually there will be a decent ps2 emulator...hopefully anyway, although you'd need a pretty decent pc to run games at a good speed to..
|
aioria1981
Posts: 104/234 |
Originally posted by Dcahrakos
well...
1. Where I live, and anywhere close is the worst place to buy old games($100 for FF2 on snes)..
Here there are near places where i can buy them, but the price is another story...
Originally posted by Dcahrakos
2. Its free, and easier
Yep
Originally posted by Dcahrakos
3. Save states, and Fast Forward
And slow mo' too
Too bad there are no good emu's (fps talking) for PS2. Another good thing that emus add are pallete changes, and even better, high score support like UberNes |
HyperLamer
Posts: 7020/8210 |
Originally posted by Snika
Oh... I forgot about save states.
Thats one of the big reasons I play.
Some games are annoying where you can only save in certain places. Some let you save anywhere, but when you start up again, you come from like the last dungeon you were in or something.
Save states eliminate all that crazy stuff. Save anywhere you want, start back at the same place. Easy as pie!
And if you play SMW hacks, it's pretty much required. |
Surlent
Posts: 1048/1077 |
Playing the Ancient Cave from Lufia II pretty sucks on an emulator.
On a real SNES it was more than a challenge, as it involved about 10-12 hours if you wanted actually to kill the Master Jelly (without getting killed yourself to get a cheap victory then ), and the most nasty enemies from the 80th floor on ...
I fortified 9-11 hours after I got through it and by three "Stardust" attacks from two Gold Dragons in a row (after being surprised, due to contact from the side  ) made me forfeiting that time ... 
Other than that, emulation is convenient, allows to play hacks and improved quality/sound - there is Netplay support so you can play online if your friends don't have time to play with you; but nothing can beat the original feeling when you have the original game.
When I'm putting in my Rudra no Hihou cartridge into the NTSC -> PAL adaptor and turn on my SNES, it is really more than satisfaction when the harps begin to play that wonderful melody and the Squaresoft logo fades in - and the huge colorful japanese title appears later ...  |
Snika
Posts: 632/916 |
Oh... I forgot about save states.
Thats one of the big reasons I play.
Some games are annoying where you can only save in certain places. Some let you save anywhere, but when you start up again, you come from like the last dungeon you were in or something.
Save states eliminate all that crazy stuff. Save anywhere you want, start back at the same place. Easy as pie! |
mcw
Posts: 57/164 |
i used to emulate lots of games because i used to make games. i liked playing lots of other games because it'd give me a good idea of what i'd like about certain games.
now, i just sort of gave up on it, and i play games to.. play games.
usually, most of my emulation is now for netplay. i really love playing games with my friends, i certainly missed out on multiplayer games as a kid, and lots of old games are great playing with more than one person.
i do occastionally play games i missed out on(or just didn't finish). such as super mario world 2: yoshi's island. i've been playing that game recently a lot too(got to 3-7 or so until i came on here :p).
sometimes i play games that i loved as a kid. Rocket Knight Adventures is one. it's a great genesis game, i reccomend everyone checks it out.
also, the fast forward option is definitely one of my favorite parts of emulated games. i never really got into save states, though. i only use them in case i have to leave or was stuck on something. |
Sokarhacd
Posts: 1547/1757 |
well...
1. Where I live, and anywhere close is the worst place to buy old games($100 for FF2 on snes)..
2. Its free, and easier
3. Save states, and Fast Forward
and thats basically it. |
Ran-chan
Posts: 11577/12781 |
Because I think it´s fun and don´t have the money to buy all of the games I emulate.
And some games are hard to get too but not on the net. |
Prier
Posts: 7737/8392 |
To solidify my kickassery in games I used to be able to play, mostly ZSNES. |
LocalH
Posts: 38/46 |
I'm a big fan of emulation for one primary reason:
To make a piece of software that, in real time, will accurately mimic the behavior of a whole other system architecture, is simply a work of art in my opinion. I highly respect those who are capable of writing such emulators, and I place them at the level of Led Zeppelin or Yngwie Malmsteen - gods among men. The other benefits that people have stated are only gravy.
On a tangent, I even had someone tell me several years ago that emulation was "wrong" because "new technology is not designed to handle old shit". I never could ram it in his brain that what he said was the exact reason people created emulator software, so that it would handle "old shit". He got extremely mad about it all the time, until one day I showed him an Amiga emulator that let him see an old Moviesetter animation that he and I had worked on in the past. After that, he's never said a word about any emulation at all. |
Snika
Posts: 617/916 |
Sience I missed out on the NES and Super NES days, its a great way for me to see what I never got to see! Its free, too!
I also like to relive my glory days of the GameBoy Color and Nintendo 64. |
Colin
Posts: 10446/11302 |
Because I can and nobody's gonna stop me from doing it. 
Emulation's also a hell of a way to pass the time since there's still SO many good games out there I haven't even picked up... It's a hobby that can last a long time. |
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